-EDIT- Comic had a little downtime due to exceeding my bandwidth allotment. Fixed now, sorry for that!
I apologize to those of you who check the comic right at the crack of midnight CST, had a late start on finishing touches. But, today’s comic comes with a bonus extra: a Behind the Scenes look at the development process.
(I was originally going to share these as a Sketch Saturday, but I think they make more sense posted along with the pertaining comic.)
So, originally this comic was going to be two pages of content. Page 1 was Selkie falling through the sky only to land gently and delicately at the portcullis. Page 2 was Selkie asking the others for a teleport to avoid walking up a long flight of stairs which suspiciously resembled the staircase from Revolutionary Girl Utena. VERY suspiciously so… >_>. For brevity reasons I decided it did not need to be two pages long.
But, for a peek into the editting process, here are the pencils for the original draft of this page(s):
If you’re thinking that the first image, as a stand alone Thursday comic, would have been a bit weak, you’re thinking the same thing I was. I wanted to keep the Utena staircase as a nerdy shout-out, but it became too nonsensical trying to squeeze it in to the top row of panels alongside the castle and the falling through the sky (both of which are more important as scene-setters), and removing anything from the second or third rows of panels would mean less time spent on the characters, which is probably bad (I would think) for a character-driven story. So, sorry staircase. We’ll crack the world’s shell some other time.
I think the end result overall is stronger than if I had drawn and run these two as separate strips. I don’t want another year to go by before we even get out of Selkie’s dreamspace. XD
Discussion (35) ¬
Wow, I’m first to post? Eh, maybe:) I love the added sketches! I decided to put in the blog a larger version of today’s strip of Shards so people could see the details. We think alike!
Ah, I notice also the nav of the comic above the comic:) Saw someone requesting it in your comments section and if ya couldn’t figure it out I woulda helped:)
Thanks for the offer. It was actually a good excuse to go diving into my widgets, honestly. 😀
crap. Forgot what I really wanted to say! I love the off-handed dialogue you assigned Ricky and Tony! It really shows how Selkie thinks of them, ha ha!
Ah, it’s not science if it doesn’t have a detonator.
Selkie has a very rich fantasy life. Which is sad, because it suggests that she really needed a rich fantasy life…
It’s not necessarily sad. It could just mean that Selkie is a smart little girl with a strong imagination. When I was a little girl, I was always playing pretend and having strange dreams, and I have a very loving family and seldom had much to be worried about.
Well, at least Somebody’s happy…
Sorry! You’re quite right, of course, it doesn’t necessarily follow. I doubt Selkie was bullied, and she probably wasn’t neglected, but she was institutionalised. Her guardians were caring, but that’s not the same as loving.
Of course, that’s changed now. Soon she’ll wake up in her new room… unless this strips’s gone the way of You+Me: Dream!
Oh man I remember when that Big Twist happened. I didn’t know WHAT was going on.
I was originally going to say that I liked this bit, but suddenly I’m not sure.
Her dream-self is identified as “Selkie Smith”? Already?
I mean, after a year or so, yes. But this soon?
You bring up a good point. My thinking on the last name is that she didn’t have one to call her own before, so she’s latched on to the concept as a sign of “normalcy”.
Random French!
Oops! Superfluous esses! Spare me, Grammar Authoritarians, ’twas but a typo!
Heh, I just noticed how Selkie talks normally in her dreams. I wonder if that is also a part of her that she dislikes? I was pondering if her speech patterns were caused by physical anatomy differences.
Her sharp teeth, surely? They’d encourage sibilance, and possible a slight whistle.
No, actually it can’t be – in the alternate universe where Selkie was Sophie (you guys remember that April Fools) all the adult ‘Selkies’ talked normally. Also, I think it has been said that it will come up later.
Interesting that she talks normally in her dreams, though.
Sharp teeth combined with a youthful soft palate? Baby teeth coming in at the back?
I, er, know nothing about homo aquatica physiognomy… physiology…
I’m going to be quiet for a bit.
when little kids do things like saying w sounds instead of r sounds and l sounds, they generally recognize the actual version of the word as being correct and are just mispronouncing it, right?
I lol’d at “Random French”.
I have NEVER been so insulted in my life! How dare you not allow us zombies into your university. It’s discrimination! I’m calling NAAZP(National Association for the Advancement of Zombied People) for a meeting about this. You’ll hear from my lawyer!
Aren’t you rather articulate for a zombie? All the ones I’ve met know one word at most!
Aww you’re pretty high-functioning for a Zombie
How many zombies have you guys actually met? I bet you talk to zombies all the time on the internet and you wouldn’t even realize it since we’re not exactly going out and telling everyone we run into about our condition. Hollywood loves to demonize us but most of us are really nice people!
Sure, we like to eat the brains from time to time, but it’s not our fault they’re packed with delicious delicious nutrition. Mmmm, brains.
I’m properly contrite, Duban. I’ll try not to stereotype from now on!
Well that’s because you can probably pass being alive, there are many poor low-functioning zombies out their that don’t have the skills you do. We should work to cure zombies, and help those poor families with zombie children.
You’re just lucky.
I feel your pain Duban. Lot’s of people are the same way about us aliens. Thanks to those jerks in Hollywood, everyone thinks we’re gonna shoot people with lazers and destroy major cities and stupid stuff like that. I came to this planet in hopes of promoting understanding between the species, but people can’t look past the fact that I’m from another planet.
XD “Random French!” That just made my day…
I love Selkies dreamplace
I thought of Girl Genius when I saw her greet the castle. GG is in my list right before you, so it made me smile~
Aww, you could at least have done a “For science!” :p
I wish my dreams were this awesome.
I might have missed the staircase, but the rose is a dead giveaway. (And don’t worry, the world’s shell will still be there when you get around to it.)
Just finished Utena like 2 weeks ago, so the song instantly started up in my head. Hm, would Selkies sword have a fish themed handle, or would they just pull out a swordfish out of her?
Also I love how her dream is like an actual dream, all those premade stereotype dreams they show in movies make me want to punch the writers.
heh.
“random French” cracks me up, for some reason.